Short Line keeps fares steady for 5th consecutive year

MAHWAH, N.J. – It's hard to believe but true: Short Line will not increase fares on the bulk of its commuter bus routes for the fifth consecutive year.

“We've retained quite a high percentage of the new riders we've added in recent years and that increased volume is continuing to cover our increased costs,” said George Grieve, president of Short Line and general manager of Coach USA's Northern District.

In fact, Grieve said the only commuter routes that will see a small uptick are ones that serve the park-and-ride off Exit 14 of the New York State Thruway in Rockland County – and then only to bring them into alignment with other, comparable ones.

But the roughly 4,400 commuters who take the bus from Orange and Sullivan counties, Pike County, Pa., and Bergen County, N.J., to the city will pay the same for their tickets that they paid in 2009, when Short Line raised fares an average of 3 percent to 4 percent.

Metro-North, which lost Port Jervis line riders to Short Line after Irene and Sandy, raised fares an average of 7 percent in both 2011 and 2013 and plans to hike fares an average of 4 percent next year. PATH fares have been rising annually, too.

“My fellow passengers will be delighted,'' said Linda Cummings, among the former Metro-North customers fueling Short Line's growth.

Cummings, who switched to the bus temporarily, after Hurricane Sandy disrupted NJ Transit and PATH service, stayed because she parks for free in Central Valley, pays less for a ticket and gets dropped off a block from her office. She also found the company responsive to her complaints about a shortage of seats on its Wall Street routes that bypass the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

“They are actually sending an extra Wall Street bus to Central Valley at 6:04 a.m., so there has been ample room,'' Cummings said.

Now she wants to nudge them to enhance their customer alert system so commuters are better informed about delays and to provide Wi-Fi on all buses, acknowledging “it's hard to complain when the rates are remaining the same.”

Grieve, however, said Short Line has boosted Wi-Fi availability to about two-thirds of its fleet with the addition of 51 new buses equipped with the service and electrical outlets over the past six months.

“There's no question customers want and expect Wi-Fi and our goal is to get it on all our buses as soon as possible,'' Grieve said.

He also predicted that commuters will see other improvements in service – cleaner buses, faster responses to breakdowns and overcrowding, more consistent repairs, etc. – once the company moves into its new office and garage complex in the Chester Industrial Park at the end of May.

“No fare increase and improvements in service?” said Maggie Bergara of Rock Tavern, who has switched between the bus and the train since moving to the area in 2000. “Seems miraculous. I may never go back to the train.”judyrife@gmail.com